Return to Seven Sisters

by M. L. Bullock

  There was only Mama and me now, and of the two of us Delarosas, I was the only one capable of managing our business affairs. Papa had left us as well cared for as he could, at least in the immediate future, but that would not last forever. No indeed. I had to think of my future.

  “Excuse me, ma’am. Before I left off, I wanted to tell you that you have a guest at the house.”

  My mind immediately went to Philip, and I tidied my collar and buttoned the top button of my blouse. “Who is it, Yvette?”

  “A lady. A fine lady by the looks of her. I’m ashamed to say I didn’t ask her name, but she’s asked for you by yours, ma’am.”

  “Really?” My heart sank at hearing my guest was a woman, but I kept my face a mask. Yvette took the bucket from the bench and flashed her frownish smile. “I wonder who it could possibly be?”

  “No idea, ma’am, but I left her in the ladies’ parlor. I hope that’s okay. I best be getting along.”

  “Yes, of course you should. It’s been so long since we had a formal guest, Yvette. I’d better tidy up a bit before I see her.” I sighed at the thought. “On second thought, I don’t think I will. You’ve done enough for the day, Yvette. Go to your sister. I’ll come now.”

  “Thank you, ma’am. Oh look, I think she’s made herself at home.”

  Yvette clucked her tongue as the stranger opened the French doors and stepped onto the side porch that led to the ladies’ parlor. I watched as she strolled along the porch, her gloved fingers brushing the chipped wooden railing. She wore a burgundy hat, a very expensive hat with an elevated brim. Even from here I could see the dainty trim, a pale pink ribbon, and there were tiny flowers at the crown. She had fading brown hair and a tall, slender figure. Like a girl’s figure. My visitor leaned against a pillar and stared off into the distance, her eyes watching the red dirt road that led to Seven Sisters.

  I didn’t know her at all, but I gathered that she had been here before. Yes, exactly. The stranger behaved like one who’d visited Seven Sisters and now, after a long while, had returned. Maybe this had been her home once upon a time. Or maybe she was just a rich woman with a mind to snatch up a historic landmark for a fraction of its worth. I’d had those kinds of visitors before. People believed that just because you were a young woman, you could not balance your own books. But I could. I knew where every penny went, and I wasn’t in such dire straits that I would sell my own home. I saw the curtain in Mama’s room move briefly, but I ignored her pale face. She waved at me, but as I held up my hand to shield my eyes from the sun again and to get a better look at her, she stopped. Yes, I would have to visit her this evening, after I tended to this stranger’s needs. Perhaps my guest was a relative of Rabbity John? I glanced back at the porch, but she was gone. She couldn’t have gone far, could she?

  The doors to the house stood open. I heard Yvette’s rickety old carriage leaving but nothing else. That’s when I caught a movement, the skirt of a dress passing into the maze. Yes, the stranger was making herself quite at home. I couldn’t identify the emotion that stirred in me. Anger? Jealousy? Fear? Whatever it was, I had certainly let her wander around the place unattended long enough. But at the same time, I hesitated for I was loath to follow her. How long had it been since I’d walked in the Moonlight Garden? Were the pathways even passable in there? I would have to go warn the lady that the Moonlight Garden wasn’t a suitable walking path. Not anymore. I couldn’t leave her to get lost or hurt herself.

  As I stepped on the path that would lead me to the entrance of the maze, I heard giggling. A girl was giggling, and the sound rang in my ears as if she were all around me. An obnoxious wind blew through the garden; I feared it would blow my skirts up, but it only pelted me with magnolia leaves and dropped a few of the heavy seed pods on the ground beside me. Before I could be too amazed by the phenomena, I noticed a hat on the ground. The stranger’s fine burgundy hat had blown off or been tossed to the side. But why?

  With unexpected urgency, I passed through the hedge opening and went in search of my enigmatic guest. I only hoped I wasn’t too late.

  Chapter One—Carrie Jo

  “Lily Jardine, have you been in the safe?” I asked as I knelt in front of the open box. My niece’s pinched face told me what I needed to know. She had absolutely plundered the safe, but how could she have gotten into it? I couldn’t believe I’d actually left it open. Now what? I hoped Lily wouldn’t attempt to lie about it. In the time she’d lived with us, I never knew her to be a liar. Evasive? Yes, she could be that. Feisty? Heck yeah. I mean, we were related. Knowing what she’d been through, I was willing to overlook evasiveness from time to time, but lying? I hoped she didn’t feel the need to lie to me.

  “I can’t fit in there, Aunt Carrie Jo,” she said as she avoided my eyes.

  Evasive. Color me surprised.

  Lily pretended to be completely fascinated with her newest tiny block creation. She loved building things, just like her Uncle Ashland. I glanced from her to the open safe. I spotted dead flowers inside, but I was surprised to see my letter missing. Had my niece taken it? Why would she? As far as I knew, she didn’t even know about the safe. And even if she did, she wouldn’t have known where to find the key. But then again, Lily had proven to be one heck of a spy.

  “You know what I mean, Lily. Have you taken anything out of the safe? I had…something in here.”

  Her green eyes met mine squarely. “No, ma’am. There wasn’t anything in there, except my flowers. I thought the lady would pick them up, but she didn’t. She left them there. Do you think they were the wrong kind?”

  “What lady, Lil? Has someone else been in here?” I couldn’t imagine that our housekeeper would plunder my safe, but as she had been the only one around recently, I didn’t know who else would have been in here. Not Rachel, surely. But then the skin on my neck cooled as a strange, precise blast of wind hit it. Do you really have to guess, Carrie Jo? I knew exactly who she was talking about. How could I not? Lafonda! Lily must have recognized her from the weird room where we had fought the mirror creature. And now she had figured out how to use the safe, just like I had.

  What do you expect? She is a dream catcher too.

  As Lily’s aunt and protector, I felt obligated to pretend that life was normal here at Seven Sisters, even after our shared encounter with Maggie Davenport. Even though life here had never been normal. Not for me. Not for Baby Boy or Ashland. And not for Lily. She whined as she put the block creation on the desk but didn’t offer another answer. She rubbed her left arm with her right hand. That was her stress tell, kind of like a tic. I hated pressing her, and I could see her shrinking before my eyes—it broke my heart. I closed the safe and put the fake books in front of it and went to her immediately. What was the point of this exercise? I’d find out what I wanted to know, but not like this.

  “It’s okay, sweetheart. It’s not a big deal.” I hugged her tight, and she hugged me back. At least there was that. She didn’t stiffen up when I touched her now. “Let’s get the game ready. Rachel will be here any minute.”

  “Okay,” she said as she kissed my cheek, freed herself from my grip and ran across the hall to the Blue Room. I hadn’t noticed Ashland lingering in the doorway. I wiped a happy tear from my eye.

  “You handled that like a pro. I think you’ve got this aunt thing down, Carrie Jo.”

  “That’s good to know because I feel like I’m walking in the dark. I didn’t hear you come in at all. You move like a shadow. Now I know where Baby Boy gets his ninja skills.”

  He entered the room, his arms unfolding gently as he gathered me up in them. Ashland moved as smoothly as any dancer, and he always smelled neat and tidy with his fresh cotton shirt and the lingering scent of soap.

  “No tears, babe. Lily is going to be fine, and you’re doing a great job. She’s a good kid.”

  I knew he meant well, but he didn’t know the whole story. He knew nothing about the envelope I’d left in the safe for Lafonda Delarosa, the ghost who ling
ered here at Seven Sisters. I’d played a hunch, and it paid off. Once in a while, I guess when the stars were aligned and other unknown prerequisites were in place, objects came through to the safe. I found a button in there and a pearl earring. I couldn’t be sure who left them, but I wanted to believe it was Lafonda, who’d lived in this house over a hundred years ago. I couldn’t even say what inspired me to try this kind of communication, but it worked. Or it had.

  What if it had been Lily all along? No, it couldn’t be because she hadn’t been here then. Lily had not been with us when I found the earring or when I put the letter inside.

  I hugged my husband, but he didn’t know anything about what I’d been doing and I didn’t want to plague his mind with yet one more thing. He was doing so good lately. No stuttering or rapid blinking or staggering. Ashland did not need one more thing. “Yeah, she’s wonderful. Rachel here yet?” I asked before I kissed his cheek and went back to tidying up the desk.

  “Just got a text from her. She’s on the way. Picking up the food first.”

  “That’s sweet of her.” I paused as I closed the drawer.

  “What is it, Carrie Jo?”

  “You know what Rachel wants, Ash. She wants us to go back to Idlewood. I don’t think I want to. Not after what happened to Momma.”

  “I know it’s hard, and we don’t have to tell her tonight. And if you said no, she would understand.”

  I raised an eyebrow at him. I noticed he said, “if you said no,” not “if we said no.” That was mildly disturbing.

  “I thought we were trying to put the ghosts to rest. Not look for more of them.”

  He accepted the books from my hand and put them back on the top shelf. With a sad smile, he said, “You and I both know we’re never going to be able to put all the ghosts to rest; we’re too connected to that other world, and so are they. I think that would be impossible, but I agree with you that it would be good for the activity here at Seven Sisters to come to an end. Yeah, we’re all too connected for that kind of disconnect.” I knew he meant Baby Boy and Lily, but I was glad he didn’t say so. “But we will still try. We all deserve to rest.”

  “I wonder why they don’t rest, Ash. Why aren’t the spirits here resting? You think it’s us?”

  “Maybe. I mean, you are a dream catcher and I’m a…well, I’m not sure what I am, but you might be on to something. It could be that we attract activity, but I’m only guessing. Let’s let the Gulf Coast Paranormal folks tell us what they think.”

  “What if they say we can’t shut down the portals here? What if they say we can’t stay?”

  He frowned at that idea. “Then we’ll go, but it’s going to be fine, Carrie Jo. I just know it will be. I feel good about this connection. From what Henri says, Midas Demopolis is a stand-up guy.”

  The door opened, and Rachel poked her head in. “Pizza is here, and so am I! I hope you don’t mind that I brought Chip with me.”

  “Hey, Rachel! Chip? I haven’t seen him in forever. Sure, let’s go to the Blue Room. I’ll go grab the paper plates and stuff.”

  “Great!”

  Rachel left us alone, and Ash kissed me. When I pulled away, I could see the hunger in his eyes.

  “Okay, tiger. Let’s go be family-friendly. Save that look for later.”

  “As long as there is a later.”

  “Promise,” I said sweetly as I led him to the door. Ten minutes later, we were laughing with our friends and I was chasing a child around trying to prevent his pizza-stained fingers from touching my newest chair. Baby Boy was determined to defy me, but if he thought I was going to back off, he had another thing coming.

  “No, Mommy!”

  “Don’t tell me no, Ashland James. Come here and let me wipe your fingers.”

  He shook his head, but Lily scooped him up and brought him to me. He let out a scream of frustration. It didn’t last. She blew raspberries on his round stomach, and he quickly changed his attitude. Nobody loved Lily more than AJ, even during times of betrayal like this one.

  “No, Lil-wee! I say no!”

  “Okay, okay. Give him here,” I said as I laughed at the two of them. I managed to wipe his fingers but only quickly, not enough to make me completely happy. “Lily, why don’t you get the video game ready?”

  “Cool!” she said as she flicked on the television and her gaming system. Baby Boy was immediately entranced and sat down beside her as the familiar cartoon characters began assembling on the screen. “Who’s playing?” she asked hopefully. I know she wanted me to play too, but I was horrible at video games.

  “I think you should play the first round. You and Ashland James.” Lily didn’t appear too happy about that suggestion but didn’t argue with me. She rolled her eyes and huffed. Like the trooper that he was, Chip joined her on the couch and offered to ride shotgun. She loved that idea.

  “I’ll play next, Lily. If you can beat Chip, that is. I hear he’s the Crash Brothers champion.”

  “No way!” she said.

  “Let’s go!” Chip and the kids launched the game and left us to talk without worry that they were listening too carefully. I had no doubt that Lily was listening, or at least half-listening, but she was never intrusive. How to start this conversation? Rachel was clearly interested in what we were doing, but I got the feeling that she didn’t completely approve. I wondered what her grandmother Jan would think. Jan was one of the sweetest and most spiritually grounded women I’d ever met. She wasn’t getting out much these days, but we chatted on the phone at least once a week. Usually about nothing.

  “Okay, you two. Tell me about this ghost intervention you have planned for tomorrow night. Are you sure I can’t be here?”

  I glanced at Lily tapping away on the game controller, her tongue poking out as if that would help her character jump at just the right time. That move never worked for me. Thankfully, she didn’t appear to be listening to us.

  “Midas might call you for an interview, but he was pretty clear about keeping it just us. Would you be available for a chat?”

  “Yes, but I really would like to be here,” Rachel said over her red-rimmed glasses. She was closing the pizza box and collecting dirty paper plates.

  “I know you love this place as much as we do, but Midas is planning on bringing his whole team. I’m sure it will be crowded in here.” I wasn’t sure what else to say about it. I wasn’t making it up. Midas asked us to send the kids away and not to invite other people.

  Rachel knitted her brow and said, “I hope they don’t stir things up. That can happen sometimes, you know. Whenever you bring paranormal people in, there is a chance that things could go badly. I’ve heard some real horror stories.”

  What was Rachel’s problem? Why did I feel like I was being scolded like a child? A naughty child who’d been caught playing with a Ouija board.

  Ashland snorted at that. “We’re all paranormal people, and to be honest, I can’t imagine they could stir things up worse than we’ve already experienced, Rachel.”

  She leaned forward and said in an icy voice, “Oh, it can always get worse, Ashland. Always.”

  That’s when I saw Lily staring at me. Her eyes were as wide as an owl’s.

  Chapter Two—Carrie Jo

  “Wow, Rachel was wound up tight tonight, wasn’t she? What’s up with her, I wonder? I don’t understand why she’s so against us bringing in Gulf Coast Paranormal. I miss the days when she wasn’t so intense.” She came into our lives as a college student, an intern during the renovation, but she’d quickly proven to be knowledgeable about Mobile’s rich history and totally excited about bringing Seven Sisters back to life. Rachel had been with us from the beginning of everything, from Seven Sisters to Idlewood and back to Seven Sisters, but these past few years had changed her outlook on life. She’d gone from positive and upbeat to withdrawn and sad. I thought of her as a little sister, but ever since her sudden trip to Scotland with her ex-boyfriend Angus and their subsequent breakup, Rachel had changed. She wasn’t th
e carefree free spirit I once knew. It was as if her world had gotten darker after her heartbreak. I still wasn’t completely sure about all the details; Rachel Kowalski was the most secretive person I knew, but there was no doubting that something very dark now shadowed her once-sunny soul.

  “She is hard to read,” Ashland agreed as he kicked off his shoes. I gave him a playfully caustic eye, and he picked them up and put them in the closet. My husband always kicked off his shoes wherever he liked and then couldn’t find them later. That was one habit of his that drove me crazy. Strange considering the man always dressed nice; you would think he would treat his wardrobe with a bit more care. After putting his shoes in the closet, he said, “Enough talk about Rachel. I want to talk about you and me.” I removed my earrings and tossed them in the jewelry box. When I turned around, Ashland was sitting on the bed with that familiar flirtatious grin on his face. Yeah, he’s feeling much better.

  “You don’t think we need to talk about Rachel?” I pretended that I wasn’t too interested in joining him on our comfy bed. I removed my necklace, the one with the sapphire pendant, and put it in the box too. The kids were in bed, presumably asleep, and we were alone.

  “No, I don’t,” he said as I stepped closer. He held out his hand to me. Then his face softened. “Unless you need to talk about it. I thought we’d come to a decision, though. This is our house, and this is what’s best for our family.”

  “I agree.” I tapped my lip with my finger and said, “No, I don’t need to talk about anything.” In an awkward attempt at a striptease, I began to take off my shirt. It didn’t go smoothly. My buttons didn’t want to cooperate, and I suddenly felt very silly, but Ashland loved every minute of it.

  “Wait a minute. I know the perfect song!”

  “Ashland, please don’t do that. I was just kidding around.”

  With a determined grin on his face, he reached for his phone and ignored my weak protests. That’s when I heard a tap on the bedroom door.